TL;DR

Tl;dr Taking a break from the Internet. Going to unplug and do some writing.

In July, our home was damaged by a tree limb that I estimated to be sixty feet in length. The widest portion was well over two feet in girth. The roof acquired a hole, lost shingles, and likely received structural damage. Windows were broken, sashes knocked out of place. Siding, soffet, facia, and gutters were wrecked. The gate into our back yard was crushed, as was the trellis standing guard over it. The back door was knocked out of place and had to have an emergency repair performed. Yet more problems would occur throughout the process.

It is now February and the work should be done. We found a piece of J Channel siding that needs to be fixed and informed the contractor on Saturday.

The insurance company would only cover so much of the damage. Some of it was understandable, some of it made no sense to us. The siding was only damaged on two sides of the house, so they only wanted to cover two sides of the house. The siding was so old, it was impossible to find the material to match. The windows were also only damaged on two sides of the house, but I wanted all of the windows to match.

We lost contact with the insurance adjustor at one point. At another, we contacted a second contractor for a quote, because the first was taking too long to respond to communication or things were miscommunicated. I estimate we lost two to three months from this.

High summer came and so did a wasp nest. The tree limb hit power lines on the way down. It knocked several out of their holders on the house. This created an access point for wasps to use for entry into the house. As it turns out, the house has balloon framing. This allowed the wasps to build their nest throughout two rooms in our 1920 American Prairie Foursquare house. I spent one weekend doing nothing but killing wasps in those two rooms. I would spend thirty minutes in one room killing up to 15 wasps as a time, before moving to the other room to do the same. I attempted to spray the hole at night, but it did not do much to help. I made a desperate call to Terminix, Orkin, and a couple of local bee keepers.

Bee keepers do not want wasps. They will, however, come out and remove bees from your home. Depending on where you live, it is against the law to kill bees. Terminix and Orkin do not set up emergency visits for the weekend. If you do not contact them by Friday morning, you will not see them until Monday, at the earliest. I set ours up for Monday morning. The agent put the call in for Tuesday morning. So, Monday morning I waited until 5 minutes past the time they were to arrive and then I called to see what was going on. I had to travel that afternoon for work and was not about to leave my wife and dogs home with the wasps having the run of the house. The agent put the appointment in for the wrong day. The local salesman was nice enough to move things and make things happen for the correct day. The technician came out several times and made sure the wasps were dead. D.E.A.D. However, we would need to remove the nest to ensure our safety.

The roof was completed months later, in the late fall. The contractor had to remove one set of Sherriff-Goslin roofing, two layers of shingles, the original cedar shake shingles, and then put down new boards and new shingles. In the process, a section of shingles was found missing under the Sherriff-Goslin roof.

All the while, we had to look at a boring house, made ugly, due to the damage to the house.

Just before snowfall began, the siding to the house was removed. We had hoped to be able to cut open the cedar siding and remove the wasp nest. However, the house had asbestos siding under the aluminum siding and before the cedar siding. The insurance adjustor decided it would be better to go after the nest from the inside of the home. It would cost them less.

As snow began to fall, the contractor began putting up the siding. We were lucky in that most of the original siding was down and cleaned up before the first heavy snowfall. Throughout the months of November, December and January, the contractor worked on our home. One of us needed to be there nearly every single day. This meant coordinating our work travel schedules and taking on costs to do business on ourselves. It meant explaining to our clients why there was a pounding noise in the background, listening to country music, and dodging nails in the yard. We were lucky in that our supervisors were very understanding and allowed us to work from home, when needed. The dogs even behaved well throughout the process.

In January, the contractor began the hunt for the nest. The contractor eventually found it and removed it. I think it likely had hundreds, if not low thousands, of dead wasps in it. Then, it was time to replace the lathe and plaster with drywall in both rooms.

We had to move everything from one bedroom and the dining room into other rooms of the house. This led to very cramped conditions, very dusty conditions. At this point, my wife developed allergic reactions to something in the air. She had trouble breathing, couldn’t sleep, and had hives. The dogs and I simply had trouble breathing and I think we had a slight allergic reaction. We treated with Benedryl, but that was not enough to help my wife.

We worked with the contractor and adjustor to get moved immediately into a hotel. We left the contractor a key, which he would lose in the snow and then find. It allowed him to work throughout the weekend to complete the house ahead of schedule. This meant, something else would need to go wrong. Let me count the ways.

We used two hotels, three times. The first hotel was nice in that it had a laundry area. However, it was, as my wife called it, a “hooker hotel.” My wife was propositioned by drunk construction workers and I saw at least two working girls in the hotel. We moved after the weekend when people would be back in the office and we could arrange to move. From there, we moved to a hotel brand I am more accustomed to. We should only need to stay there one night at this point. Tuesday morning, I found out we couldn’t move back in until Wednesday. So, on Wednesday, I loaded the car up (full with clothing, left-over food and soda, and various personal belongings), checked out of the hotel, and went home. I wasn’t feeling well and took a sick day from work. I just wanted to be in my house and able to rest.

Because of the allergic reaction and the fact that the house operates with cold air returns, we asked if the ducts and returns could be cleaned out. The insurance adjustor graciously agreed. The contractor hired a nation-wide company with agreeable costs and reputation. They showed up, got started on Wednesday, and then their machine broke. They would not be able to have the machine serviced and be back until Friday. They would try for Thursday afternoon, but did not think it was likely. I told the contractor and the worker I needed to know if they were not going to be able to finish Friday, I would hire someone else to do an emergency job. Then, I made the calls to get our hotel set back up.

They showed up Friday.

After calling to let my contractor know they machine was still broken, but they would go rent one to use. Both of us had to work Friday. We coordinated to have lunch together and then reconvene at the house to finish working for the day. They finished around 3:30pm. We set up laptops to finish working for the day.

The guys cleaning out the ducts informed us one of our cold air returns goes nowhere. It’s just a closed box. Then, there was the heat duct in the 2^nd floor filled with concrete. Great. Whatever.

And then it was a weekend of cleaning. Every surface had dust on it. We were cleaning nooks, crannies, floors, trim, and doing laundry. We vacuumed and mopped floors. We did more laundry. We went and got the dogs from her mother’s. We did more laundry. We cooked on our own stove and had a homemade meal. And yes, we did even more laundry.

We have a little more cleaning to do in the house and probably more laundry. We’re taking time off. We need to unplug and recover. We need to follow up on hobbies and second jobs we have neglected. We have new projects around the house to complete. We need time to spend with each other that isn’t overly cramped, overly dusty, or overly loud. Maybe we’ll both sleep in. I’ll get some writing done and clear up backlogs of email I owe people. She’ll catch up on home & garden shows and come way with even more ideas of cool things to do with our home.

The house is repaired. The exterior and interior are looking good outside of the J Channel on the porch and some dust in the house. It would be a great time to sell it, if there weren’t five other houses in a block’s diameter around us. I guess we’ll have to stay here for now and enjoy being the pretty house in the neighborhood, instead of the ugly one.

Special thanks to our friends, relatives, and coworkers who have provided physical assistance moving furniture, spending time with us to keep us distracted from what would become a crushing reality, allowing us to vent when we needed to, keeping us focus on the task at hand, watching the dogs, and understanding when we forgot to do something or didn’t complete something we said we would.

PS:  Pictures to come. Later. Some day.

PPS:  I’m sure I’m forgetting things, like discovering which antique shops are good and which are not and which one we purchased our new dining room set at. 

Quick and Dirty: Kosice, Slovakia

Košice, Slovakia

(Quick and Dirty)

Description:  Košice is the biggest city in eastern Slovakia and second largest in the country after the capital of Bratislava. It is on the Hornad River and among the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains. Košice is an important industrial center in Slovakia and the largest employer is U.S. Steel Košice. There are various courts, universities, religious building, museums, galleries, theatres, an international airport, and an extensive railway.

Košice has a high number of businesses for the population. There are approximately 20,000 businesses, nearly one per twelve residents of the city. Some of this stems from being one of the two 2013 European Capital of Culture cities (Marseille was the other city). This event drove research into the needs of the people, research into using untapped resources and making them into something usable, and spurred entrepreneurs to start their own companies. Many of the efforts were put in to transforming the city from heavy industry to postindustrial with many other more creative options.

Population:  240,000 (Galatia, Romania or Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

Conflict: Crime in Košice is not unknown. Women are encouraged to not go out at night unaccompanied. Gypsies and their children are a known nuisance. The political parties are under intense pressure to leave the mafia groups alone, including Hungarian, Russian, and Slovakian groups. The Slovak groups are actually the weakest of the mafias. The Russian and Hungarians keep the Slovaks in their place and in the country. The Russian groups include Ukrainian and Chechen organizations. There is some drug trade, mostly in amphetamines, The Slovakian groups stick to security services, construction, and ownership of restaurants and nightlife locations. Human trafficking in Slovakia exists at two levels. The first and most widely performed is moving product through the country. This includes women and children for sex trade and men for work trade. The second is the kidnapping and exploitation of Roma women and girls. The Slovakian government has been slow to support anti-trafficking laws and spends less than $100,000 USD on efforts per year.

Backdrops: 

1.  Parks:  There are two recommended parks within Košice. The first is one of the largest zoos in Europe, with fifty-five different species of animals. There is a focus on European animals. The zoo is located in the northeast section of the city. The second park is Mestsky Park. It is located between the main railway hub and the cultural center of Košice. This large park is part of a revitalization of the city following the European Capital of Culture. Many trees were felled, shrubberies were taken out, and areas were cleaned up. The process is not yet complete, but the park is accessible to the public.

2.  City Center:  Located along Hlavna ulica, this is the cultural center of the city. The area is filled with museums, galleries, churches, restaurants, vendors, and the luxurious Hotel Zlaty Dukat Košice. This location provides great opportunities for foot chases, clandestine meetings, and tailing unsuspecting targets. The north end of the square even has a medieval plague column:  The Immaculata.

3.  Palaces:  The city of Košice boasts at least eight palaces, from the beautiful Jacab’s Palace to the eldest, Former Town Hall. Andrassy’s Palace was converted into a large cafeteria and patisserie. Pongracz – Forgacs’ Palace is the Regional State Library and the Csaky – Desswffy Palace is the set of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic. It also houses the biggest bookstore in Košice, selling books in multiple languages.

Three Hooks: 

1.  Dolná Brána:  Welcome to the entrance into 13^th century Košice. This is the original entrance into the city and original town fortifications. This was discovered by accident during the excavation and rebuilding of Hlavna Street in 1996. The Lower Gate Museum serves as the starting point for visiting these old remains. The Dolná Brána has yet to be completely excavated and tours are usually only available from May to September. Tourists looking to get lost in creepy tunnels may accidentally stumble upon hungry vampires. Agents looking for tools to use in their war against the conspiracy may follow a lead to Henri Solon’s Scepter of Penance (see Eden Studios Presents volume 2) down amongst the ruins.

2.  Nočná Mora:  The Night Owl is a nightclub involved with the Pitovci gang members. They use the nightclub as a front for selling smuggled cigarettes, heroin, cocaine, and running prostitutes. The nightclub is rather large and the décor is black with occasional highlights of gold and silver. This serves well to hide the various secret rooms and hidden cameras throughout the nightclub. The Night Owl is only open on Thursday through Sunday and gypsies are typically not allowed on premise. Agents following money may come across this nightclub and find a lead to another level of the Conspyramid. Failing that, the Agents may just settle for destroying a crime organizations primary money maker in the city of Košice.

3.  Csaky – Desswffy Palace Bookstore:  Bookhounds will want to explore this bookstore. The fact that it is in the same palace as the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic may cause some concern. After all, if the palace is a court, there are bound to be many police officers in the building. While this is true, the police would never expect Agents on the run due to Heat to enter this palace. A constitutional court and a bookstore – why would international criminals come here, unless it was to turn themselves in to authorities? The bookstore’s curator, one Tatiana Thokoly, claims to be the descendant of a prince from the 1700s. Tanya’s collection of books includes early editions of hard to find books in their original languages. Tanya will not reveal her sources of the books, but rumor has it, she uses burned agents left over from the Cold War. The potential ties into the Conspiracy are endless. 

Thoughts Over the Past Year

Unedited.


2014 was a jacked up year. There were emotional highs among the clouds and very low valleys well below sea level. Highlights include bombs dropping, houses nearly felled, and visiting hospitals.


The year began as it ended. I was on leave of absence taking care of my wife from the end of December through the start of February. She had major surgery (and is fine) and was confined to the couch. We were both back to work by February.


I was not going to let my wife think she was the only one who could visit hospital emergency rooms. She visited three, only one was planned) in the year prior. I did not best her record, as I only had two unplanned. I did not include a planned visit.


The first visit was a food reaction while I was in Nebraska. There I was in Middle-of-no-place, Nebraska at 10pm driving around town looking for a clinic only to wind up in a hospital. Four hours later, freshly drugged, but not IV-flushed, I was back in my hotel. Six hours after that I was up swinging for the fences. I may have been drugged up post-allergic reaction to some food product or another, but you would not know it from the results of my work. I won an award at the day job for working through that mess with my usual aplomb.


The second visit was local and likely started as something similar. However, I probably overdosed myself with various drugs by accident. “Oh, hey, that didn't make the problem go away, let's try this other drug,” is not a good plan of attack. Just trust me on this one. Also, if you hear of an addict or junkie talking about bugs crawling under their skin, I think I have now experienced such an event. It is horrible and emergency room teams may or may not react properly to your face. Mine claimed to not know what was wrong with me, but may have had words with each other outside the room. Either way, I went home that same evening.


Come July, we had a party for my wife's birthday. We partied so hard the gods saw fit to send a terrible storm our way two days later. A sixty foot tree limb lept from its trunk into our house. Windows were broken, a door jam was busted up, the fence was damaged yet again, the siding was banged up, and a hole in the roof were just the start.


The entire start of the work on this house was a nightmare. Communication was spotty. However, once the work started, the wife and I were much happier about it. During bad communication with the adjustor and two contractors, a hive of wasps developed in the house at an entry point caused by the branch. I spent an entire weekend caulking windows and window frames, taping over the same windows and frames, using fly swatters and putty knives killing the wasps who were entering our home in both the upstairs and downstairs through two different areas on each floor. It was a very stressful weekend spending 30 minutes upstairs then 30 minutes downstairs, rinse, repeat. I had to push back a trip for work and hire a company to come out and kill them. They had to come out three times just for the wasps. I contracted them to do other work, as well.


In the mean time, the wife has taken to researching the house, houses like it from the era it was built, and we have begun changing the appearance to be more period. So, not only is the house different from the rest of the neighborhood because it is the most updated on the outside, it is starting to look like it should look. We are changing out light fixtures, changing doors and house numbers. On the inside, we updated the dining room furniture in January 2015 to a more formal look. As luck would have it, the living room light fixture needs to be replaced and the kitchen cabinets need knobs or handles. Luckily, the wife has read up on American Foursquare Prairie homes and knows what we need for the house. We may not go full authentic everywhere, but we are trying to give it a makeover to make it feel more like our home.


Come August, George invited me down to GenCon to talk with him. I visited on Saturday. The place was packed to the walls with gamers. The event has officially become too big for me to get everything done I would want to get done. George and I discussed the success of Adventure Maximus! and the future of Unisystem products. The end of the conversation is that I am not the main person behind the Unisystem game lines. George will remain involved, but I have much more room to do want I want. Bomb dropped.


Eventually, work began on the house. It's coming along nicely. As I type this, work continues. Our black and white exterior house is now meadow green with big, bold, white accents. The formerly screened-in, dingy porch is now an open, welcoming porch that helps set the property apart.


Work on Unisystem products has been haphazard. I've dealt with authors flaking out on me, me losing interest due to the stress of dealing with the house, stress of the day job and other typical life situations, occasional health problems with the dogs, and I started a health program offered for free through work.


I don't do health programs well. The last time I tried one, I was angry all of the time. This one is working better. I am down 18 pounds and have another 38 to go. I'm trying to build up to 360 minutes of exercise per week, a caloric intake of 1700 calories, increasing my typical fiber and protein diet, and doing it all at a slow, planned pace. The last time I dieted, I cut things too harshly leading me to crashing and burning.

I am leaving out plenty of things that happened in 2014, but these were the highlights. Games were played. Travel happened with the wife to Columbus and Chicago. Future vacations were planned with family and friends.


2015 has started as rocky as 2014 started smoothly. After all, we were at home everyday. I could write as often as I could sit down and not need to get up to care for the dogs or the wife. I could watch all the C*O*P*S or First 48 I wanted. 2015 is more about using the resources at hand to succeed and not letting the world hit me so hard I stay down for the count. Fighting to succeed at what I want to succeed at on my terms and not fail because the world hits harder than I have been hitting back. 2015 is about deciding what I want, how those desires stack rank, and accepting what it takes to make it happen. Is it more important to live where I do, where I have a support network of friends and family? Or, is it more important to me to live where the temperature is almost always above freezing and I have to make new friends. Money and enjoyment of life often go hand in hand, but must they? Are the hobbies I have hobbies or am I taking them too seriously? Is the day job really that bad or that good? These are not topics unknown to anyone. It's just time for me to start making some decisions and moving on to wherever they lead.


I have learned I need to do things differently. I need to listen to what others say (the wife and others) and try their methods more often. I don't have to admit I'm wrong about anything, I just need to learn to do things in different ways. (insert annoying smiley face here)


I hope the decisions I make this year are good ones. I hope whether or not they are the best decisions, they are decisions which help me grow and define me.

Night's Black Agents - Quick and Dirty Cities: The Collection

This post will function as a quick list with links for the Quick & Dirty City posts I have created. The Q&D cities are designed for use with Night's Black Agents from Pelgrane Press. However, I think they work well for various roleplaying game settings, such as Armageddon, Conspiracy X, Hunters Hunted, and Spycraft. As always, your mileage may vary.

Cities of Note:
Apremont-Sur-Allier, France
Belize City, Belize
Kresnador Urban Okrug, Kresnador Krai, Russia
Tumaco, Columbia
Vladikavkaz, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia
Wroclaw, Poland
Kosice, Slovakia

Coming Soon:
Znamenskoye, Chechnya, Russia
???

Quick and Dirty: Wroclaw, Poland

Wroclaw, Poland 

(Quick & Dirty)

Description:  Wroclaw is the largest city in western Poland and fourth largest overall. It is on the River Oder and only 25 miles from the Sudety Mountains. Historically, Wroclaw was the capital of several countries and was claimed as a city in more than four different countries. It will serve as the European Capital of Culture in 2016 and host the World Cup in 2017.

Wroclaw’s many factories produce land transportation vehicles, as well as, home appliances and electronics. Chemical plants are also present in the city. There are both domestic and foreign companies active in the city, including Bosch, Siemens, Nokia, Volvo, Google, Whirlpool, Getin Holding, Telefonia Dialog, MCI Management, Protam, and EKO Holding. A high-tech sector of the city is drawing in many active corporations active, including IBM, Dong Seo Display, LG, and Toshiba.

Transportation in and around Wroclaw is fairly easy to come by. There are private taxis, bus lines, and nearly two dozen tram lines. The city has a port on the Oder River and the airport is designated as international. Highways quickly connect the city to cities such as Dresden, Germany (2.5 hours) or Nachod, Czech Republic (2 hours).

Population:  632,100 (Bratislava, Slovakia or Syracuse, New York)

Conflict:  Crime in Poland is lower than many of her neighboring countries and continues to decline year over year. The Polish Organized Crime Division was able to break up the major Poland-based gangs and mafias in the 1990s, sending many members to jail. Current organized crime groups in Wroclaw specialize in car theft (with ties to Columbian drug cartels), drug trafficking (amphetamines), and weapon trafficking (including assault rifles). Gun sales are often tied to Russia-based mafias and shipments are sent to countries under embargo with the use of falsified documents. Human trafficking is on the rise in Poland, but the government is very active in passing laws to support stopping this crime. Human trafficking in Poland includes all levels:  moving product in for sales, moving product from Poland out to other countries, and transporting product through the country.

Backdrops: 

1.        Ostrow Tumski:  The oldest part of the city, it once was an island between the branches of the Oder River. The cathedral on the island originates to the 10^th century. Old town has a borough of four temples with a Jewish synagogue, Lutheran church, Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church all near each other on one corner. The Roman Catholic Church has an observation tower where visitors can look out over the other three religious buildings. Visitors uninterested in religious buildings can visit the market.

2.        Sky Tower:  This is the tallest building in Poland, with residences, offices, commercial space, a bowling alley, an oversized Salvador Dali sculpture, and recreation areas. Sky Tower actually consists of seven different buildings of various heights, and a car park. The building is over 200 meters tall and has a viewing area on the 49^th floor. The elevator rises from the ground floor to the top in under 60 seconds.

3.        Botanical Gardens of Wroclaw University:  These gardens were originally established as a place for scientific research. They are still used as such, but today also function as a tourist location. Waterfalls, fountains, bridges, and statues fill the grounds. The gardens fill the northeast corner of the universities property north of the river.

Three Hooks:

1.        Clear Protection:  Clear Protection was purchased by a member of the Conspiracy soon after filing a patent for a new type of glass that will block all AVA and AVB light. Production of the glass only started this year and someone in Sky Tower has paid for their suite to have these windows installed.

2.        Banking:  Wroclaw is home to the highest number of debt collecting and leasing companies in the country of Poland. This means there is also a high number of financial and accounting institutions in the city. The number of financial organizations in town means it is easy for the Conspiracy to collect the money on-site when trafficking goods into Germany and the Czech Republic. Due to the amount of money in Wroclaw, the Conspiracy has several teams of gun thugs situated around town. Agents attempting to track down money sources or relieve the Conspiracy of funding may soon find themselves in a thriller car chase. Lucky for the Agents, there are plenty of highways in Wroclaw, some even cross the Oder River.

3.        SCIENCE!:  Dr. Adek Stelmach is a botanist specializing in phytochemistry and plant systematics and is employed at Wroclaw University. Dr. Stelmach has received funding from a private donor to produce plants with a genetic code sequence that more resembles plants from pre-industrial age Eastern Europe. The private donor may be a member of the Conspiracy looking for a mega powerful form of aconitum lycoctonum, a fellow hunter trying to find a new old way to slay vampires, or a movie producer looking for a movie gimmick tie-in.

Quick and Dirty: Kresnador Urban Okrug, Kresnador Krai, Russia

Quick & Dirty:  Kresnador Urban Okrug, Kresnador Krai, Russia

Description:  Kresnador is located on the Kuban River and is 92 miles northeast of Novorossyisk on the Black Sea. Kresnador Urban Okrug is the administrative center of the krai. Twenty-nine rural localities make up the krai. The Kuban River flows along the western edge of town and empties into the Krasnodarksoye Vodohkranilishche. European route E 592 enters the city from the north and travels south along the Krasnodarkskoye Vodorkranilishche to the east of the city, where the highway’s name changes.

The city is home to ten sports teams, including three football teams (American soccer) and one rugby union. Football fields can be found throughout the city. Tehre are several universities in the area, many focusing on scientific research, including seismicity. There are more than six theatres, a permanent circus, and the Kuban Cossak Choir. The largest splash fountain resides in Kresnador.

The city dates to the 18^th century and was originally named for Catherine the Great and St. Catherine. After the October Revolution, the name was changed to support the Communist party.

Population:  744,995 (Athens, Greece or Columbia, South Carolina)

Conflict:  Government corruption, casino crime activities, and Russian gangs are all at play in this city.

Backdrops: 

1.        Krasnodars Circus:  This is a permanent circus and an official state circus. The circus is held in a round building near the heart of the city. The shows change with the season and sometimes include guest circuses, such as the Cirque du Soleil Russland.

2.        Krasnaya Street:  Translated as red (Communist), beautiful street, this area of town is the main arts and sight-seeing portion of the city. At one end is the Avrora movie theater and the other is the Central Concert Hall. A triumphal arch stands in the middle of the street.

3.        Kuban State University:  The university accepts up to 200 students per year from outside of Russia. This includes students from the USA, Great Britain, France, Greece, and Turkey. It is the only university in southern Russia to allow students from those specific countries. The university has three members of the Russian Academy of Science as lecturers. Research at the university is sold to the USA, Germany, Great Britain, and Japan. The largest amount of money produced by universities in the Krasnodar is from KubSU. Their work includes regional programs related to seismicity. Trips to the area of Gelendzhik and the Lago-Naki plateau by students to carry out experiments and field study is common.

Three Hooks: 

1.        Steel Hyperboloid Structure:  Located near the Krasnodars Circus, this tower was designed by Vladimir Shukhov. The building is a work of art and has no known current function. Lights adorn the structure and provide a beautiful visage at night. Vampires with mentalist powers can use this structure to boost their signal. A vampire with the ability to exert her will over the populace can increase the number of people they are able to affect. A vampire or even a human mentalist with mind speaking abilities can boost their range. In order to use the tower, vampires spend one point of Aberrance and is considered attuned to the tower. After attuning to the tower, all Vampiric Powers related to Awareness, Field Effects, Invisibility, Mental Attacks, Necromancy, Possession, and Voice operate at one level higher when touching the tower. Human mentalists must pass a difficult Stability test in order to attune to the tower. At the Director’s discretion, certain abilities and powers from Rough Magicks may also be affected by the tower.

2.        Casinos:  Krasnodar is home to several casinos. Like other casinos across the world, these attract criminal elements. The amount of crime in Krasnodar has decreased in the past five years and most of the crime performed is of a serious level, related to organized groups. Government corruption is only worsening due to the economic crisis building in Russia. The conspiracy can easily move their money through the various casinos in Krasnodar. Gun thugs and meat heads abound in an area such as this, lending to the high level of violent, serious criminal activity.

3.        MacKey’s Pub:  A British style pub near the All Saints Cemetery. This location may serve as solace for world weary travelers who just need a moment to catch their breath. The bar opened during the Bush family wars in the Middle East and quickly became a hang-out spot for burned spies looking to catch up with each other. The GRU quickly figured out it was being used by former Western spies and sent their own agents to infiltrate the place. The Western spies knew and did not care. They were enamored by a place that reminded them of home and provided fond memories of what life was like. As soon as the GRU were discovered by the regulars, a policy was put in place by the regulars to not discuss trade craft on-site. Sit-downs and meetings could be lined up, introductions could be made, but nothing official was to be discussed or allowed to occur in the pub. The GRU know they have been made, but maintain spies on staff, if for no other reason than to keep the spies who come here on their toes. MacKey’s Pub is open for late breakfast, lunch, dinner, and after hour drinks. It is likely a good place to find someone who knows someone or something you need.

Quick and Dirty: Vladikavkaz, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia

Quick & Dirty:  Vladikavkaz, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia

Description:  Vladikavkaz is the capital city of the Republish of North Ossetia-Alania. It resides in the southeast of the republic, situations in the foothills of the Caucasus on the Terek River. It has one of the highest populations among the North Caucasus. The city is known for its factories and as a transportation center. The Georgian Military Highway (European route 117) connects it to George in the south, through the mountains. A rail line connects the city to Baku, Azerbaijan. Buses, trams, and trolleys cross the city, providing plenty of public transportation. The city structure is actually made up of six different rural localities.

Population:  311,693

Conflict:  The city has been the target of several bombings in the past 15 years. Targets have included mayors and military sites. The 58^th Army is based in the Southern Military District as one of the four operational commands of Russian. Vladikavkaz and the surrounding localities are host to a motorized brigade and command brigade. The main base of the 58^th Army is in Dzhava-Tskhinval, Tbilisi.

There is also the on again, off again, fighting with the Ingush people. Most of the fighting involving the Ingush people is due to fighting spilling over from the Chechen Republic. Due to this conflict, the area has become destabilized by corruption, high profile crimes, and government security forces murdering civilians.

Backdrops: 

1.       The North Caucasus:  Whether traveling to the Tsey Valley and the Skazka resort, the Tsminda Sameba Church (Gergeti Trinity Church) under the watchful eye of Mount Kabegi, or looking for the forgotten castle of a vampire lord, the North Caucasus provide many varied locations. The mountains also provide many local shop owners the opportunity to sell various gear needed to living or touring the mountains. Travel guides can be found in all of the towns and most are willing to take money from non-chartered sources in return for guiding foreigners through the mountains. These guides can also provide knowledge related to the comings and goings of the military and which roads have been closed via restrictions by the military.

2.       Prospekt Mira:  Cafes, restaurants, hotels, museums, galleries, and a statue of Lenin line Prospekt Mira. This is the central heart of the city of Vladikavkaz along the river. Agents looking to find other spies a likely to visit this area of town.

3.       Aleksandrovdkiy Grand Hotel:  The Aleksandrovdkiy is the most elegant, and thus most expensive, hotel in Vladikavkaz. Both the exterior and interior are done in antique styles. The hotel is within a 45 minute drive of the airport and a ten minute walk from the train station. Guests can relax in the bar or dine on traditional Russian fair in the restaurant. For those looking to enjoy a more cosmopolitan palette, other restaurants and a Starbucks are nearby. The hotel only has 30 rooms to rent.

Three Hooks:

1.       Fiagdon Valley:  Interesting locations within this area include an ancient cemetery in Dargavs, a restaurant named “Valley of the Sun,” and the small ex-mining town of Fiagdon. Nearly every place in the valley is worth visiting, outside of Fiagdon. The vampires control the town and have residences built inside the old mines. They have Renfields placed throughout the area, watching the roads and many restaurants nestled along the way. The Valley of the Sun is an obvious place for a trap and it is one! The entire staff are Renfields and eagerly await the arrival of anyone threatening their masters.

2.       Georgian Military Highway:  This highway connects Tbilisi, Georgia with Vladikavkaz, Russia. The highways is known for impatient drivers and the occasional random closing of the border post. The road is 130 miles long, crosses ridges and gorges, passes Mount Kazbek, a Georgian church, bottoms out in a canyon, and climbs up a pass to an altitude of 7815 feet. The road snakes along several rivers and past two medieval fortresses and a hydroelectric dam. This highway is an ideal location to place the home of the conspiracy. If not the home, then a definite outpost could be made of the Ananuri castle along the Aragvi River. Failing that, the highway is also a good means of traveling from Georgia to Russia. Vampires will who need to get from one to the other can travel by car or by boat. Agents on the run from the conspiracy could use the highway as a means of escape, but must beware the obviously controlled border crossing. Directors in need of a thriller chase sequence are encouraged to utilize this locale.

3.       Beslan School hostage crisis cemetery:  In September 2004, a three day hostage crisis occurred in the Beslan School. Over 1000 people were taken as hostages and more than two-thirds were children. Before the crisis was resolved, more than 380 people were dead, over half were children. The terrorists involved include Chechens and Ingushes. If local terrorists are related to the conspiracy, they may be using this cemetery as a meeting place or drop point. All flights into the Vladikavkaz International Airport fly over this location.

Author's Note:  This place has legs, lots of legs. If you are looking for an interesting place to set a game, I highly recommend looking into this area of the world. 

Beautiful scenery of the Georgian Military Highway

Prior

Apremont-sur-Allier, France

Belize City, Belize

Tumaco, Columbia

Quick and Dirty: Apremont-Sur-Allier for Night's Black Agents or other modern conspiracy games

Apremont-Sur-Allier

Description:  An area of forestry and farming comprising a small village and two hamlets situated by the west bank of the Allier River, some 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Bourges at the junction of the D100 with the D76 and D45 roads. The river forms the boundary between the commune and the department of Nièvre.

Population:  76

Conflict:  Absolutely none, unless you count the endless squabbling between the castle’s groundskeeper and the garden’s overseer. With a population of 76, there isn't much that can't be accomplished by simply ignoring one another.

Backdrops: 

1.       Floral Park:  The Floral Park is designed to allow the Allier trickle into a valley, creating pools of water, and it was all inspired by the famous “White Garden” of Vita Sackville-West of Sissinghurst, England. The grounds include buildings designed a Russian painter and architect, a small lake complete with gazebo in the middle, a quarry converted into a waterfall. The buildings are designed to reflect different national styles from around the world.

2.       Castle:  The castle sits on a bluff overlooking the Allier River. It dates from the 12^th century, making it a century older than the church. The stables for the castle were originally a glass factory and now serve as a museum of the area. The property is so well maintained that the name plates of horses kept in the stables can still be read.

3.       Village:  The village consists only of buildings from or designed to match buildings of the regional style from the Middle Ages. Many residents of the area served as a quarry workers in the Middle Ages. The stones were used throughout the country in many religious buildings, such as the Orleans Cathedral.

Three Hooks:

1.       Apremont-Sur-Allier was designed by vampire hunters or by survivors of vampire attacks. The garden within the Floral Park contains exotic flora. This may be the only place in Europe to locate that ever hard-to-find bat thorn. The garden may also contain enough of specific plants or flowers to serve as a barrier to vampires. If the flora is not enough to keep vampires out, the waterways around the property will keep vampire who can’t cross running water at bay.

2.       Apremont-Sur-Allier’s tagline is “A magical place. . . where time has stopped.”  This may be a hint towards a crossover with TimeWatch or it could be advertising as cover for the vampires living here. After all, top hats and fancy capes just aren’t the haute couture anymore. With all of the stone buildings, the castle, the gardens, and a population count so low, everyone could be Renfields, Apremont-Sur-Allier could be the perfect place for an elder vampire to call home.

3.       The gazebo in the middle of the lake is actually an entrance to a vampire’s lair. During the reconstruction of the village between World War One and World War Two, a vampire built a lair in the bottom of a quarry. The quarry was then filled in with water, a gazebo built in the middle of the then lake, and an enclosed set of stairs built from the gazebo down to the lair.

Prior

Belize City, Belize

Tumaco, Columbia

Quick & Dirty: Tumaco, Columbia

These notes are designed using structure from Night's Black Agents. The idea is to provide a quick skeleton framework from which to draw if the team heads here for adventurous mayhem. 

Quick & Dirty:  Tumaco, Columbia

Description:  Tumaco is a port city and municipality in Columbia. It resides on the Pacific Ocean and is near the Ecuadoran border. The city is famous for its stilt city, having inspired painting by Cordoba. Much of the city is poor and the homes and streets reflect this state.

The jungle between Highway 10 in Columbia and Ecuador is so dense, no roads cross the border. The best one can do is catch a river boat from a Columbian city and take it to the Columbia River, hoping to find a village along the river with a driver and a working car. The historic backwardness of the municipality’s government is often attributed to the isolation of the area.

Tumaco’s economy is based on agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and tourism. It is also the main Columbian oil port on the Pacific Ocean side of the country, second nationally after Covenas. The pipeline and port are increasingly used to transport and export Ecuadorian oil.

Population:  99,000 (Albany, NY or Berdsk, Russia)

Conflict:  Tumaco is in FARC-EP controlled territory. Any action taken by the Columbian army to crack down on FARC-EP is always met with a more strident response by the FARC-EP. If that is not enough for the Columbian army to contend with, right-wing groups such as Los Rastrojos drug gang and Guevarist group Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional are also active in the area.

Backdrops: 

1.        Mira River:  Much of the tourism centers around the mouth of this river, including the beautiful Playas de Milagros (beaches of Miracles). The local beaches are filled by day and at night, tourists retreat to nearby, newly built hotels to enjoy their evenings. The hotels are built to shield the view of the poor just a street away. However, they cannot block the view of the Batallon Fluvial Infanteria de Marina with its chain link fence and barb wire topper.

2.        The gangs and revolutionaries have a stranglehold on the local government. When and if they need something, they make a call and threaten whomever is on the other end. Need money? Call a successful person and inform them of their new insurance rate. Need the military to not be somewhere? Call a military leader and threaten their family. When their demands are not met, the gangs and revolutionaries pick a target and eliminate it. Crime here is three times the level of any other place in Columbia and these “vaccinations” are only the tip of the problem.

3.        The U.S. government pours millions of dollars into Columbia every year to help combat crime and improve living conditions. There are more Americans in Tumaco than one would expect. One simply must know where to find them.

Three Hooks: 

1.        The indigenous people of Tumaco are known for their early use of gold in the making of art. One of the smaller military groups controls a large collection of caves where gold veins may be found. Large bats are said to reside within those caves.

2.        Everything that floats through the Port of Tumaco has a price and the locals ensure they get their cut. The oil industry pays to ensure this wheel is well-oiled. Controls are in place at the marina to ensure oil ships are allowed in and out with ease. Without a payment, the marina is not likely to let other boats in or out. This is the only thing in Tumaco semi-controlled by the Columbian government. The gangs and revolutionaries stick to the jungles and related waterways as much as possible.

3.        American ex-pats do not seem to be harassed as much as the locals do by the gangs. Why is this? Is there an agreement between locals Anglos and the Afro-Columbians? Is there money flowing from the oil companies to the gangs to keep tourists coming to the city and keep the money flowing.

Prior:
Belize City, Belize